10 Incredibly Damaging Habits You May Be Unaware Of Doing Every Day

Habits are methods of behaviour that make up parts of your day. And most of the time you are unaware of what you are doing. Some habits you do on autopilot. Yet, how often do you reflect on whether these habits are good or bad for you?

Are you being mindful of how your habits are affecting your body, your mind or your relationships? Or are you simply letting your days go by and settling for how you feel?

Everything that you do within your day contributes to how you think, feel and act. It is time to shine the spotlight on your daily habits. Are they helpful and nurturing or are they actually damaging your life?

10 damaging habits to look out for!

1. Spending too much time on your phone

We can all hold our hands up and say we have at least once spent too much time scrolling on our phones. It is easy and convenient. Offers umpteen amounts of entertainment options without us needing to move.

There are many advantages to mobile phones. But how often do you come away from an hour of scrolling and feel accomplished? Or energised? You may feel a little relief or be distracted from a worrying thought. But once you reconnect with reality, has that worrying thought and anxious niggle come back? Of course, it has!

Focusing on your phone is a mere distraction that does very little for your mental health. You are avoiding and avoidance is damaging because you are only prolonging the pain.

TRY THIS! Instead of turning straight to your phone for distraction, write down everything that is on your mind. Get it out of you! Then treat yourself to a YouTube video. Use the entertainment as a reward or do something ultimately helpful.

2. Sitting down all day long

Yes, sometimes you need a rest. Your body is aching and needs time to reset itself.

You may work 9-5 at a desk or drive for miles a day. You may feel mentally exhausted when you come home so flop onto the sofa and turn the TV on.

There are moments within everybody's day when you can be active. Your body needs movement to fuel itself and remain healthy. This also applies to the mind. Your body and mind link, so a lack of physical activity can increase the risk of low mood.

TRY THIS! Being active does not have to mean going for a run. It can be a 10-minute walk on your lunch break. Walking up the stairs rather than getting the lift. Break the cycle of the constant ass-to-chair habit!

3. Skipping meals

By missing a meal, you are not helping your body! Instead, you are depriving yourself of vital fuel. A lack of nutrition can induce a cycle of symptoms harmful to your mental health. These can include:

• feeling nervous

• dizzy

• irritable

• physical weakness

These 4 symptoms alone scream 'my mental health is rubbish'! So why risk accumulating more and making yourself feel worse?

TRY THIS! Weigh out the pros and cons of skipping a meal. Sometimes it happens, we lose track of time. But if it happens often and you know it, ask yourself why you are doing nothing to change it. Make sure you have snacks on you if you know you might miss a meal, plan ahead or risk feeling shit!

It is that simple!

4. Drinking caffeine

I love coffee, so writing this one is bittersweet for me. The thing with caffeine is that its negative effects only seem to appear hours later. This makes it difficult to connect the dots.

Caffeine is an anxiety enabler assassin! It sneaks into our system at 7 am as a beautifully rich morning elixir. Yet disguises itself and hours later, reveals its true nature as anxiety. Yet, we go back for more because it cures our need for instant gratification.

TRY THIS! Cap your caffeine. To reduce levels of anxiety and the risk of crashing, drink one less cup of coffee a day. Or you could have a caffeine cut-off time- no more coffee after 3 pm. Switch it to decaff. Even treat yourself to a GOOD decaf, so it is more of a treat than a sacrifice.

5. Sugar

Sugar is the definition of instant gratification for me! Suddenly I can find myself needing something sweet and every once in a while that is fine. But when I am doing it every hour, the sugar mountain within me is becoming too high. It tumbles and sinks in on itself and before I know it I have had a sugar crash. I feel weak, anxious and probably nauseous.

Sugar does fuel the body but too much can cause all sorts of problems. Mental health is one of them. Sugar is an established coping mechanism but it is not healthy. It is comforting.

TRY THIS! Give yourself a sugar treat for the day. Save it for a time you know will be enjoyable- watching a movie or sitting out in the sun. Replace its number one role as a comforter. Find a new comfort blanket.

6. Drinking more alcohol than water

Alcohol may very well be a coping mechanism for you. A way to numb out pain and freeze out bad thoughts. An escape. I can understand that because I used to use alcohol for that reason.

Alcohol is not only bad for the body, but it can affect your mental health 10 fold. Do you ever worry about what you did on a night out? If you said something embarrassing or made a fool of yourself? These anxiety-driven thoughts produce feelings of shame and guilt.

Shame can eat away at your self-worth and transform you into a recluse. This is because you are too afraid of doing anything that others may judge you for.

Water is nutritious, it fuels us and washes away the bad within us. Alcohol is another enabler. If you cannot control it, it only adds to the bad within you.

7. Lack of sleep

A poor night's sleep leads to all kinds of nasty side effects, including bad mental health.

Not being able to sleep can lead to low mood and irritation. This can lead to impulsivity and problems within your relationships. Feelings of shame, anger, guilt and sadness will increase due to your behaviour.

A lack of sleep has a knock-on effect. That is what you have to remember.

TRY THIS! Get into a routine- Be in bed at 9 pm, wind down by reading, watching a relaxing tv show or listening to a podcast. Choose something relaxing for an hour or however long it takes you to nod off.

8. Comparing yourself to others

This is a damaging habit! You are you, not whoever it is you are comparing yourself against. So there is no point in doing it! NONE!

There can be motivation to better yourself but that is different. Being motivated by another is when they inspire positive emotion, not negative feelings.

Generally, when we compare ourselves to others, it has a negative connotation. 'They have something that I don't have and I wish I had it.'

Comparing ourselves fills us with negative thoughts and emotions. These manifest as depression, low self esteems, anxiety and anger.

TRY THIS! Notice when you compare yourself to another. Does it feel positive or negative? Bringing awareness to your experiences will allow you to deal with them at the moment.

9. Watching the news

I hardly ever watch or read the news. I find out what I need to know and that is that. The news is full of sad, violent and terror-stricken stories. By focusing your attention on all the hurt in the world, you increase your negative feelings.

The news is informative but it can also overshare for shock and entertainment value. That is when it is up to you to notice how much you can handle. You have a choice! Use it

TRY THIS! Notice what your topics of conversation are about. What are you thinking about a lot? If the subject is negative, make the choice to change it. You can do that!

The news can bring a lot of unnecessary anxiety. We have to remember that the news can also overexaggerate.

10. Ignoring your pain

It is easy to get stuck in the habit of ignoring the pain. Mental pain especially, as there is no alarming physical sensation. It is easy to push it aside or distract yourself from it.

That's where the problem lies. By ignoring your pain, you are creating a store cupboard. Once that cupboard is full it will burst. Everything will come flooding out and you will feel 10x worse.

But we do this because it is easier than dealing with the pain.

TRY THIS! Rather than ignoring your pain, acknowledge that it is there. Start to sit with it and picture it as a wave that you need to ride. Remember that it will pass and the more you do it, the easier it will get.

WANT TO LEARN MORE TIPS?

If you have any questions or have tried out any of the tips in the blog post, leave a comment below to let me know how you got on.

If you have a blog post topic that you want me to cover, send me an email.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list for extra content and downloadable freebies.

Until next time, remember you are beautiful, you are valid, and you are loved.